Ventura County runners report confusion, fear in Boston

Medical workers aid an injured woman at the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon following two explosions there, Monday, April 15, 2013 in Boston. Two bombs exploded near the finish of the Boston Marathon on Monday, killing at least two people, injuring at least 23 others and sending authorities rushing to aid wounded spectators. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

When the first bomb went off Monday at the Boston Marathon, Tawni Gomes of Ventura was standing at the finish line, waiting to see that familiar face any second. She knew from Boston's athlete-tracking system that her friend, Camarillo resident Stacey Stapleton, was nearing the finish.

Then came the explosion.

"It was 9/11 all over again because I didn't know what was going on," Gomes, her voice breaking with emotion, said in a phone interview from a nearby hotel. "Police said, ‘Get out, get out, get out,' and everybody just ran. I don't even know where I ran. I just followed the crowd."

Meanwhile, Gomes' boyfriend, Camarillo doctor Paul Rehder, began working on victims at a race medical tent where he was volunteering. The couple had gone to Boston to cheer on Stapleton and other members of their Ventura-based running club, Vendurance Running Tribe.

A few hours after the race, Gomes had yet to see her boyfriend, but the couple had exchanged text messages and knew each other was fine.

"Thank the good Lord I was on the left side. It went off, and I screamed," Gomes said.

Stapleton, minutes from the finish, was diverted off the course along with other runners and not allowed to finish. Gomes learned through Stapleton's husband that she was safe.

Stapleton was among at least 49 Ventura County residents registered to run the marathon, according to information on the website of the Boston Athletic Association, the organizer. They and their loved ones spoke of confusion, fear and sadness in phone interviews with The Star on Monday.

‘Just sickened'

Veteran marathon runner Lisa McClellan, 48, of Simi Valley, was uninjured in the explosions. The mother of three children said she had just crossed the finish line and was getting her belongings when she looked back, "and there was an explosion, and 20 seconds later, a second explosion."

She was a block away. "It was really, really loud. It shook the ground," she said. "I knew immediately that something wasn't right, and I instinctively started walking away. People were confused. They weren't sure what happened.

"It's absolutely awful. It's frustrating and confusing and absolutely heartbreaking that anyone could do something like this. I just can't wrap my brain around it."

Tearing up, she said that if she had crossed the finish line a few minutes later, she could have been seriously injured or killed.

McClellan, who writes a blog, http://www.runwiki.org, and her husband, a Navy diver who was in Boston to support her in the marathon, will return home Tuesday.

Lisa McClellan's friend, veteran runner Rebecca Korb, 38, of Simi Valley, registered for the race but pulled out two months ago because of an injury.

"I'm just sickened," said Korb, who works for the Ventura County Behavioral Health Department. "I'm thinking to myself: ‘Will anybody ever feel safe doing a big race with that many people in the area at one time?' It (Boston) is such a sacred event to the running community — the heart of the marathon running community."

Camarillo resident Jack Redmond, 67, had just stepped over the finish line when a bomb exploded behind him.

"He felt as if his stepping over the finish line caused the explosion," said his wife, Sharon Redmond. "It was just utter chaos."

Taxicabs were sitting near the end of the finish line, and Jack hailed one down.

"Since he had planned on just jumping in a cab, that's what he did. Otherwise he might not have been able to get out of there because it was just crazy," his wife said. "The timing was just incredible."

She was teaching her fourth-grade class at Sacred Heart School in Ventura and hadn't heard about the bombs, so she wondered why her husband kept calling her. Every time she picked up, no one was there because of spotty cellphone coverage.

"I kept trying to call him back and no luck," she said.

Finally, she was able to reach him. "The first thing he said was, ‘I'm fine.' "

Shock and sorrow

Glenn Fout, 51, of Ojai, had finished the marathon and was walking to his hotel three blocks away when his cousin and he heard the blasts, seconds apart.

"We didn't know what they were. Shortly after, we heard sirens, and what really alerted us were people outside of Boston asking us if we were OK," said Fout. "I must have sent 100 texts in an hour."

He said the incident ruined the festive mood he and his fellow runners should be feeling. "This is supposed to be a time for celebration for runners who had a good day," Fout said.

Rob Hennick, 50, of Moorpark, finished the marathon about an hour before the explosions. He said he was sitting in his hotel room near the finish line when he heard a loud boom.

He first thought it was construction noise. About 15 seconds later, he heard another boom that shook his hotel window.

"I could see smoke and balloons flying away and people running down streets," said Hennick, who watched the activity from his hotel window. "I didn't know the magnitude of it. Nobody knew what was going on at that point."

The race was Hennick's third Boston Marathon. He ran with a group of friends from across the country.

"It's so sad because a marathon isn't going to be the same," he said.

Melissa Hernandez, of Oxnard, said the race began without a hitch. Unlike in her first Boston Marathon, during a heat wave last year, the weather was cool and slightly breezy, Hernandez said.

She and two running partners had just gotten into a cab and were headed back to their hotel when they learned of the explosion from a phone call. It was Hernandez's husband, checking to see if she was all right.

Until then, the race had been perfect, she said.

"The crowd was supportive and cheering, and one group had trampolines. ... We were just having fun," Hernandez said. "That's what is devastating about this."

Jean Cowden Moore of Moorpark, a reporter for The Star, met her children in Boston to cheer on her husband, David Moore, who ran the marathon. She had left the area with her daughters when she got a call from her son explaining what happened.

"The first thing he said was, ‘We're OK,' " said Moore. When she shared the news with her daughters, they started crying.

"I was so relieved that David was OK ... but then I realized so many other people weren't OK," she said.

Minutes away

Erica Kam, 19, spoke shortly after the explosions with her mother, Christine Kam, of Ventura, who ran the marathon. Erica Kam was at Ventura College waiting for her next class when her mother called.

This was her mother's first Boston Marathon, and she had prepared for eight years. Christine Kam was at mile marker 26, about five minutes from the finish line, when the explosions occurred.

Erica Kam said her mother typically never walks during a run but started slowing when her knees began to hurt Monday.

"I feel like an angel was looking after her," she said.

Laura Pedersen, 55, of Simi Valley, and her daughter, Jacyln Hepler, 30, ran Monday. Pedersen said Hepler had completed the race and that she was about two minutes from the finish line when the bombs exploded.

"The scary part is: My daughter had come to see me finish, and I was panicked," Pedersen said.

Pedersen said her group of runners was forced to stop and sent down another street to wait. She said she passed injured runners on her way back to her hotel about a mile away. She was reunited with her daughter a half-hour later.

Marie Lakin, of Ventura, said her daughter and she were sightseeing near the finish line about 40 minutes before the blasts. The women decided to eat lunch elsewhere because the area was too crowded.

"This is a beautiful town. I really love it here, so I am sorry this happened," said Lakin, 53.

Lakin was in Boston visiting her 22-year-old daughter, Amber, and they plan to go to New York City by train. Though concerned about safety, they are not changing their plans.

"It makes me really sad, and I wish the world was a better place," Lakin said.